


Been A Long Day

by Lokei



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: The Fifth Race, Gen, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-29
Updated: 2008-04-29
Packaged: 2017-10-19 07:42:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/198519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokei/pseuds/Lokei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chess, post-stressful situation, was more about giving them an excuse to not look at each other as they talked their way through things than it was about the game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Been A Long Day

“I used to wonder,” Jack said, and then cut himself off abruptly.

Daniel sipped his coffee, moved his bishop forward three spaces and ‘hmmm’d’ interrogatively.He knew better than to look at Jack while the other tried to sort out his thoughts.Chess, post-stressful situation, was more about giving them an excuse to not look at each other as they talked their way through things than it was about the game.

“I sometimes wondered,” Jack tried again, spinning his remaining knight in place, “whether it hurt, you know, being you.”

Startled, Daniel broke his self-imposed rule and looked up.“Jack?”

“You know,” Jack waved his hand at Daniel’s head vaguely.“Being you, carrying all that crazy assortment of crap in your head, languages and symbols and broken bits of pottery and stuff.I would listen to you talk and it would make my head hurt, so I figured yours should be hurting too.”

 _Oh, that,_ Daniel thought, not sure whether he should be affronted or relieved Jack wasn’t going elsewhere with this conversation.He blinked at Jack and raised his eyebrows in conscious imitation of Teal’c.“Indeed?” he queried with the tiniest smirk.

Jack’s lips twitched and he stopped spinning the knight and moved it forward decisively.

“I don’t need to wonder anymore,” he added.

Daniel picked up his rook and captured Jack’s horseman while Jack huffed in annoyance.“It isn’t the stuff,” Daniel agreed, carefully returning his gaze to the board.Though if anything should have provoked a headache, having the downloaded knowledge and language of the Ancients overwriting your brain was right at the top of Daniel’s list of candidates.  Nem's brain-sifter ran a close second.  


Still, he could tell Jack was nodding thoughtfully, hands wrapped around his own mug to give them something to do while he considered his next move.He nudged his castle over two spaces to protect the king.

“It’s the whole talking thing,” Jack was frowning at the remaining pieces now, clearly wondering why the hell he had started this conversation in the first place.“The thing where you talk and it sounds like English to you but everyone stares at you like you’re speaking an alien language.”He looked up at Daniel finally.

“I get that now.”

Echoes of frustration at failed communication wrote themselves across Jack’s face, followed by a kind of peace as Daniel felt his face twist into a wry smile. _“I'm possibly his only hope for communicating on any kind of serious level. “_

Jack’s own mouth lifted up at the corners.

“I get it,” he repeated quietly. _Why you stayed_ , his eyes filled in. _Why you let me go_.

“But that doesn’t mean you’re going to start listening to me,” Daniel grinned and moved a piece. _Message received_.

“Only when I can’t avoid it,” Jack agreed lightly.

“Better hear this then,” Daniel tapped the board.“Check.”


End file.
